PMO’s hand was never denied in Rafale deal: Congress

Hyderabad: Congress senior leader Mallu Ravi hit out at the BJP-led government at the Centre for blaming the Opposition party instead of correcting its own mistakes in the Rafale aircraft purchase case.

He said it was evident that the Prime Minister’s Office had entered the negotiations for the aircraft, which were being handled by the defence ministry.

Mr Ravi told mediapersons that that then defence minister Manohar Parrikar had not denied that the PMO was negotiating the deal but had only called the officer who had pointed it out as ‘overenthusiastic’.

He said, ‘The BJP is attempting to mislead the people. The Rafale deal was started by the Congress and offered a significance deal to HAL. It is miserable that the BJP is accusing the Congress of doing politics. Is the BJP claiming the patent on playing politics?’

He said the Prime Minister should not have got involved in a defence deal. ‘The lobbying was done by the PMO to help the company of Mr Anil Ambani,’ he said.